271: Take It To the Top – Tesla’s New Strategy

Crack the Customer Code

Jeannie and Adam discuss the pros and cons of Tesla’s new strategy for escalating customer service issues.

Escalating customer service: Can Tesla’s new strategy work for you?

Customers demanding that a service issue or complaint be escalated is often the worst nightmare both for front-line staff and their leaders. While service agents aren’t anxious to admit they couldn’t make the customer happy on their own, team leads and are typically not happy or prepared to take those calls!

Now imagine if those calls went straight to the c-suite…

“… things get escalated so that you don’t have that level of frustration again.” -Jeannie Walters

Tesla has announced a new program where their automotive customers can bypass the front line and take their issues straight to an executive. While this sounds like a great move for customers, the prospect of willfully escalating customer service raises a lot of questions about accountability, perception, and allocation of resources.

Could your organization benefit from a program like this? If so, then how would you know and how could you make it work?

“Sometimes serving one customer makes you serve 20 other ones badly…” -Adam Toporek

Adam and Jeannie have a lot to say about this, but they don’t agree on everything! In this short but powerful episode, they address the pros and cons of escalation, what messages it sends to customers and staff, and many other things to consider. You don’t want to miss this one!

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Related Content

• 360Connext® post, How to Unlock Your Outstanding Service Culture for Good
• Customers That Stick® post, Communication: The Most Important Skill in Customer Service
• Episode 133: Tesla and the Infrastructure of Innovation
• Episode 266: Chip Bell, Innovating Service
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

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